Kitchen Pantry Design

A kitchen pantry is just a big closet. When you think of it like that, the lack of common kitchen pantries seem indefensible. What other room in your house has so many different things and different sized things that need to be stored?

When I was younger I had the opportunity to rent a 3 bedroom apartment in a 1940s style Art Deco former residential hotel. It was grand and lovely. It had every thing from a service entrance to a six story grand atrium which all of the apartments overlooked. The rooms were all over sized and the ceilings were high. I lived in this apartment for at least 6 or 7 years, maybe more. One of the things I loved about this apartment was the walk-in pantry off of the kitchen. It was a small 5 sided room, approximately 3 feet by 5 feet, with an odd 18 inch by 18 inch window on the wall facing the door with opaque glass.

My first pantry was very simple. There were 4 or 5 shelves on the left hand side and a few less shelves on the window wall facing the door. The shelves were a bit shallow but it was a perfect place to store tins and boxes and baking supplies. It was also a good spot to keep my mop and broom and a bucket.

After having a kitchen pantry it's hard to live in a space without one. I have developed an interest in kitchen pantry design and try to peek into as many different pantries as possible. I keep learning about more and more kitchen pantry ideas.

Around the turn of the last century some kitchen pantries, particularly in farm houses, were very large and were used for food preparation as well as food storage. The pantries tended to be a separate room off the kitchen and were also used for cold storage. The pantries would have long chopping tables that also made for excellent work surfaces for pickling and making jams.
As families began to purchase more and more of their food items the space needed for preparation was reduced. By the 1920s and 1930s, the average pantry was reduced to a large closet and as time marched on pantries were completely eliminated from new house design.

It was not really until the advent of modern kitchen design that the kitchen pantry enjoyed a bit of a renaissance.

I was visiting friends who have rented a luxury villa over looking the bay of San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua. Their house is simply gorgeous and a perfect place for them to live while they are building their own equally gorgeous home. As always I had a peak around for a kitchen pantry.
Behind one of the doors of the bank of 9 foot high built in cupboards was a small pantry. This pantry was not used for food storage at all. It seemed to be a bit of a clean up closet. There was a large stainless steel sink, stainless counter top, and a large stainless garbage can. It was a mini-prep area disguised as a kitchen cupboard. The beauty of this pantry is that temporary clean up can happen with the closing of a cupboard door. I was paused by the genius of this idea. In an age of open concept kitchen/living areas, it is often difficult to hid the food preparation mess while entertaining. The host could excuse himself to do some dishes or clean up but this is often met with protests from the guests. In this case the hosts simply shuts a door and doesn't think of the mess until the guests have left. Brilliant.

When designing a kitchen pantry you should think of it like you would any other closet. Try to think about what purposes yo want the pantry to serve. Is it simply for storage or would you like to accomplish different things with the pantry. Do you like the idea of having a butler's pantry for your fine china and flatware? Do your homework. Research different styles of kitchen pantry organization. There are a number of companies that offer shelving, work tops etc for a kitchen pantry. I came across a funky website that can give you some ideas about kitchen pantries. Also check out the Kitchen and Pantry Storage section of the Home Depot web site .

Plan your kitchen pantry carefully. With creative and clever ideas you will be amazed at what can be stored in the pantry and what you can do with the pantry. A well planned kitchen pantry is a great addition to any house.